Moss Farms divers excel at Invitational
Published 9:07 pm Monday, May 29, 2006
MOULTRIE — Ryan Helms, Anna Aguero, Hannah Moore and Ali Lepech led the Moss Farms Diving Tigers to the team championship at its Moose Moss Invitational, which concluded its three-day run on Monday.
Aguero was the high-point award winner among the girls in the meet with 51 and Moore and Lepech each added 42 to finish in the top five.
Helms had 54 points in the boys competition.
Elizabeth Ann Kirkland also had an outstanding meet.
Coming off her gold medal performance on the 1-meter board at the East Nationals last month at Harvard University, Kirkland finished in first place on both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards in the girls 12-13 age group.
Moss Farms, which entered 20 divers in the meet, totaled 481 points. Patriot Dive Club of Fairfax, Va., was second with 278 points. The Montgomery Dive Club, which came down from Maryland to compete, was third with 274 points.
As expected, Moss Farms got outstanding performances from its 16-18 age group divers.
Helms won all three events he entered.
On Saturday, he won the 16-18 platform event with an outstanding 497.15.
He also won the senior men’s 3-meter with a 330.20
On Sunday, he completed the sweep with a victory in the 16-18 boys 3-meter, scoring a 481.35.
Georgia Dive Club’s Jonathan Fennelly was second with a 435.15.
With Helms not competing, Fennelly won the 16-18 boys 1-meter on Monday.
Owen Blank won a silver medal on the platform, finishing behind Helms, and earned a bronze medal on the 3-meter springboard, with a 411.20.
Blank finished seventh on 1-meter.
Also in boys 16-18, Diving Tiger Jacob Russell was fifth on 1-meter and seventh on 3-meter.
Aguero took a pair of gold medals, winning the platform event and the senior women’s 3-meter on Saturday.
On Monday, she completed her fine meet by finishing second to Hannah Moore on the 3-meter board.
Aguero scored a 376.95 to finish just 15 points behind her Moss Farms teammate.
Moore was second in the platform event, finishing eight points behind Aguero.
But Moore won on the 1-meter over teammate Maddie Qurnell and on the 3-meter board over Aguero.
In addition to her silver medal on the 1-meter board, Qurnell also finished seventh on the 3-meter board.
Also in 16-18 girls, Staci Howard was fourth on 1-meter and sixth on 3-meter.
Teammate Erin Goodman was ninth on 1-meter and 11th on 3-meter.
The Moss Farms 14-15 girls contingent also turned in a strong performance.
Lepech won the platform event on Saturday and earned her second gold medal on Sunday, winning 3-meter springboard event.
On 1-meter, she finished second to teammate Kelsey Goodman, who scored a 316.60 to earn the gold medal.
Goodman also was third on the 3-meter board and fifth on platform.
Moss Farms took three of the top four places on 1-meter, with Goodman first, Lepech second and Ann Perry Blank coming in fourth.
On 3-meter, the Moss Farms trio took the top three places, with Lepech first, Blank second and Goodman third.
Ann Perry Blank finished the meet with second-place finishes in the platform and 3-meter events and a fourth-place finish on 1-meter.
In the platform event, she finished just 1.40 points behind Lepech.
Also in the 14-15 girls competition, Diving Tiger Jillian Braun finished sixth on 3-meter, eighth on platform and ninth on 1-meter.
Dean Benton competed on all three boards in the boys 14-15 age group. He was second on 3-meter, third of platform and fourth on 1-meter.
Also competing for Moss Farms Diving in the Invitational were:
• Matthew Littleton, 10-11 novice, third on 1-meter; third on 3-meter.
• Ronnie Piemonte, 11-and-under, first on 1-meter; first on 3-meter.
• Tevin Hightower, 12-13, third on 1-meter; third on 3-meter.
• Henry Norman, 14-15, fifth on 1-meter.
• Savannah Dean, 10-11 novice, second on 1-meter.
• Kaitlin Sweet, 10-11 novice, third on 1-meter.
The event drew divers from Montgomery (Md.) Dive Club, Tennessee Diving, West Florida Diving, Patriot Dive Club, the University of Tennessee, Fort Lauderdale Diving Team, Starz Diving Club from Indiana, Port City (Ala.) Diving, Georgia Dicing Club and Islamorada (Fla.) Diving.
The Moss Farms divers now will begin preparations for summer Regionals.
Most of the Diving Tigers will go to Orlando, Fla., for the Region 7 championships, to be held June 16-18.
Divers who advance will return to the Moose Moss Aquatic Center for the East Championships, to be held July 6-9.
The Summer Junior National Championships will be held July 26-30 in Indianapolis, Ind.